Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Appleby breach: Financial secrets of super-rich clients may be leaked after Bermuda law firm hack

Appleby, a major law firm based in Bermuda, has said the financial details of super-rich clients may be leaked after it suffered a major data breach last year. The offshore firm said it suffered a "data security incident" in 2016 that "involved some of our data being compromised".

The firm is currently warning clients, including some of the wealthiest people in the UK, that their sensitive information may be leaked after it was approached by the media group behind the reporting of the Panama Papers, The Telegraph first reported.

In 2015, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released the so-called Panama Papers, a cache of 11.5 million leaked financial documents from the world's fourth biggest offshore law firm, Panama City-based Mossack Fonseca. Disclosures from the Panama Papers shook the global political elite and triggered investigations into many public figures across the globe.

Some notable figures named in the leak, dubbed the biggest leak in the history of data journalism, were close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iceland's then prime minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, Barcelona star Lionel Messi and former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The US-based ICIJ has been analysing the data from Appleby and is expected to release the information shortly, the Times reported.

Appleby said it has received enquiries from the ICIJ and a number of its media partners regarding "documents that journalists claim to have seen and involve allegations made against our business and the business conducted by some of our clients".

The company has offices in a number of tax havens including British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Jersey, Mauritius, the Isle of Man and the Seychelles. (more...)